Travel writer Lee Marshall moved to Italy in 1984. Currently based in Umbria, a couple of miles from the Tuscan border, he spends many of his weekends exploring the byways, vineyards, trattorias and historic hilltowns of a region where landscape and culture go hand in hand.

Previously a characterfully haphazard family-owned operation, it now is a comfortable, professional and modern: what it lacks in individuality it makes up for with interesting details and mod cons that work.

In a conveniently central 12th-century palazzo on a pedestrianised street, the Porta Rossa is a short stroll from centralissima piazza della Signoria.

Style/character

7/10

Though it’s part of the Spanish NH hotel chain, the Porta Rossa manages to maintain much of its Florentine charm. The décor is Euro-contemporary, but traces of 19th-century frescoes on the walls and ceilings, and on roof beams in some of the grander rooms, boost the character quotient.

Service

7/10

Back in the family-run old days it was geniuine but often a bit haphazard; in its new NH guise, service at the Porta Rossa is perhaps a little too hotel-school: but what you lose in personality you gain in attentiveness and professionalism.

Rooms

8/10

There are 72 rooms, all of them done out in creams and beiges with dark polished wooden fixtures and occasional splashes of startling scarlet in sofas and armschairs. The Torre Monalda suite, in a 12th-century tower with a 360-degree view over Florence and its surroundings, is the hotel’s pièce de résistance – though access is by a steep flight of stairs so it’s strictly for the fit and mobile.

Food and drink

7/10

A decent buffet breakfast is served downstairs in an elegant room with stained-glass windows.

Value for money

8/10

Book ahead, or avoid the busiest times of year, and you’ll enjoy a bargain stay in this four-star where a double room can cost as little as €135.